A meme (/ˈmiːm/ meem)[1] is “an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture”.[2] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.[3]
Or more specifically in the current case, Internet meme:
An Internet meme (/ˈmiːm/ meem) is an activity, concept, catchphrase or piece of media which spreads, often as mimicry, from person to person via the Internet.[1] Some notable examples include posting a photo of people lying down in public places (called “planking”) and uploading a short video of people dancing to the Harlem Shake.
Or even still yet more specifically: The image of Emilia Clarke laughing at poor Jon Snow, which I did not immediately recognize as photoshoppery, but which my son did, proving that being older doesn’t make one wiser, at least not in my particular patrilineal line:
You’d think I’d have learned enough to stop being taken in by droll knavery on the Internet, but not so far. I can only say,
